Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Population Growth

Population Growth

Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with unlimited resources, populations can increase exponentially, which plots as a J-shaped growth rate curve of population size against time. This type of curve is characteristic of newly-introduced invasive species, or populations that have suffered catastrophic declines and are rebounding.However, realistic environmental conditions limit the number of...

Hardy-Weinberg Principle

Hardy-Weinberg Principle

Diploid organisms have two alleles of each gene, one from each parent, in their somatic cells. Therefore, each individual contributes two alleles to the gene pool of the population. The gene pool of a population is the sum of every allele of all genes within that population and has some degree of variation. Genetic variation is typically expressed as a relative frequency, which is the percentage of the total population that has a given allele, genotype or phenotype.In the early 20th century,...

Exon Recombination

Exon Recombination

The evolution of new genes is critical for speciation. Exon recombination, also known as exon shuffling or domain shuffling, is an important means of new gene formation. It is observed across vertebrates, invertebrates, and in some plants such as potatoes and sunflowers. During exon recombination, exons from the same or different genes recombine and produce new exon-intron combinations, which might evolve into new genes.
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon has three reading...

The Replisome

The Replisome

DNA replication is carried out by a large complex of proteins that act in a coordinated matter to achieve high-fidelity DNA replication. Together this complex is known as the DNA replication machinery or the replisome.
The synthesis of the leading and lagging strands is a highly coordinated process. To explain this, the “Trombone model” was proposed by Bruce Alberts in 1980. The DNA loop formation starts when a primer is synthesized on the parent lagging strand. The loop grows with the...

Inclusive Fitness

Inclusive Fitness

Most altruistic behavior—in which one animal helps another at a cost to themselves—occurs between relatives. Scientists think these altruistic behaviors evolved because they increase the inclusive fitness of the animal providing help.

Evolutionary Processes in Microbes

Evolutionary Processes in Microbes

Microbial evolution occurs rapidly due to short generation times and a variety of genetic processes, including horizontal gene transfer, mutation, recombination, and genetic drift. These mechanisms collectively enable microbes to adapt swiftly to changing environments.Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) allows genes to move between different species and occurs through three main mechanisms: conjugation, transformation, and transduction. Conjugation involves direct cell-to-cell contact for DNA...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Numerical methods for quasi-stationary distributions.

Physical review. E·2026

Same author

Forecasting emergency department visits in the reference hospital of the Balearic Islands: The role of tourist and weather data.

PloS one·2026

Same author

Breaking coexistence: Zealotry vs nonlinear social impact.

Chaos (Woodbury, N.Y.)·2025

Same author

Analysis of a voter model with an evolving number of opinion states.

Physical review. E·2025

Same author

Efficient approximations of transcriptional bursting effects on the dynamics of a gene regulatory network.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·2025

Same author

Characterizing the dynamics of unlabeled temporal networks.

Chaos (Woodbury, N.Y.)·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 29, 2026

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Published on: February 3, 2023

Rank abundance relations in evolutionary dynamics of random replicators.

Yoshimi Yoshino¹, Tobias Galla, Kei Tokita

¹Graduate School of Science and Cybermedia Center, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan. yoshimi@cp.cmc.osaka-u.ac.jp

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

|October 15, 2008

Summary

This study uses nonequilibrium statistical mechanics to model ecological communities, revealing how interaction symmetries and productivity shape species abundance distributions. The findings provide insights into food web structures and species diversity.

More Related Videos

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli

Published on: August 18, 2023

Precise, High-throughput Analysis of Bacterial Growth

Precise, High-throughput Analysis of Bacterial Growth

Published on: September 19, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 29, 2026

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Published on: February 3, 2023

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli

Published on: August 18, 2023

Precise, High-throughput Analysis of Bacterial Growth

Precise, High-throughput Analysis of Bacterial Growth

Published on: September 19, 2017

Area of Science:

Ecology
Statistical Mechanics
Theoretical Biology

Background:

Rank abundance relations (RARs) are key ecological descriptors of species diversity.
Previous models often assumed equilibrium conditions or symmetric interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a nonequilibrium statistical mechanics framework for ecological rank abundance relations.
To analyze the impact of interaction symmetry (symmetric, asymmetric, antisymmetric) on community structure.
To extend previous equilibrium models to a more general, nonequilibrium setting.

Main Methods:

Utilized a multispecies replicator system with quenched random interaction matrices.
Employed generating functional analysis to derive analytical solutions for RARs.
Characterized fixed-point states using order parameters and community productivity.

Main Results:

Derived analytical expressions for RARs, dependent on interaction symmetry and productivity.
Species abundance distributions were found to be truncated normal or related forms, sometimes resembling observed ecological distributions.
Characterized the food web structure at stationarity, including cooperation pressures and finite size effects.

Conclusions:

Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics provides a robust framework for understanding ecological RARs.
Interaction symmetry significantly influences species abundance and food web architecture.
The model offers a more realistic description of ecological communities compared to equilibrium assumptions.